The causes of hair loss

There are numerous causes including the hormonal such as the androgenic alopecia which is the commonest, infection like the fungal infection, trauma like trichotillomania which is due to self-pulling of hair, cancer treatment like chemotherapy and radiotherapy, nutritional causes like iron deficiency, autoimmune diseases like the alopecia areata.

Pattern and severity

Degree of hair loss can be total or partial. In alopecia totalis, there is total hair loss from the head. In alopecia universalis, there is total loss of hair from the whole body including the head.

The pattern most common of which is MPHL, also called androgenic alopecia, or alopecia androgenetica, or in Europe they call it as alopecia seborrheica.

The next most common is the alopecia areata, which tend to be circular in shape and patchy. They are found mostly in area not involved in the MPHL such as the back of the head, side of the temple above the ear.

Sign and symptom

The patchy hair loss of alopecia areata is easy to detect where you can see clear cut small area of hair loss.

In the MPHL, usually after age 40, you find the thinning and receding hairline on both sides of the frontal area, beginning from the temple and the crown.

In the female, the commonest is the diffuse type of hair thinning and there is definitely no hairline recession on the front seen only in the MPHL. The area mostly includes the frontal, temple and the crown and the back.

In the female pattern hair loss especially after the pregnancy, also called post-partum, the causes is mainly psychological stress.

General skin condition

In general, the people with hair loss tend to has acne prone. This will means the body has more androgenic hormone production which is the main driver of sebum activity and hence acne. Such individual also tends to has oilier scalp, a condition call seborrheic dermatitis, which can cause hair thinning.

The androgenic hormone is the dihydrotestosterone, DHT in short. The DHT is responsible to block the hair follicle from growing and ultimate miniaturization of hair follicle, and eventual dead of the follicle. They found that people with hair loss tends to has more DHT. Incidentally, DHT is also responsible for the prostate enlargement in the male.

Too much of hair

When there is too much of hair especially for the female in the arm, leg, armpit, upper lip or bikini area, they would like to get it removed through hair removal program.